The naked truth about the 'naked nasi lemak'

I posed this question too last couple of years to the head chef. Why isn’t there any anchovies (ikan bilis) and fried peanut with my nasi lemak? There’s no cucumber (although I loathe cucumber, so it is fine).

The head chef who flew with me at that time answered, “It is impossible and unethical to serve our passengers with ‘ikan bilis’ and peanuts that are as hard as nails and you will know why after this trip.”

My trip to Paris in 2012 with Malaysia Airlines have somewhat opened my eyes and mind on the complexity of food preparation for in-flight passengers. My crew and I had a 'royal' tour of the kitchen of Servair, a caterer for Malaysia Airlines at Charles-de-Gaulle to understand why food served on board looks and tastes the way they do.

Since then,never will I look at a box of local or international dish served in-flight the same way again. The effort, the study and the man power required to serve the best, to suit our taste buds are enormous.

Many wonder why food served on board a plane tasted different from what we commonly consume on the ground. And why do most commercial airlines fail to replicate the scrumptious taste of most meal for their passengers? Why can’t they get right? The answer is simple. Blame it on the high altitude that alters the sense of taste in our taste buds.

At high altitudes our taste buds simply don’t function properly. The low humidity dries out the nasal passages and our taste buds become less sensitive due to the air pressure. Hence, your favorite spicy curry dish or sambal commonly prepared on the ground will definitely be tasteless and stale above 35,000 feet above sea level.

The first process is to design (with mutual understanding and agreement from various parties) a menu that works and is suitable to be served in the sky. Specifications of the menus received from the chef (or whom I love to call the ‘food engineer’) must be parallel with the commercial department. This involves confirmation on the number of passengers and loads on a daily basis. Only then are the meals prepared by the caterer.

Next, shopping for groceries and cooking ingredients.The list of fresh goods and produce required for the meals are sent to the suppliers. It is very crucial to have the right quantity of ingredients as to avoid wastage or insufficiency. For which comes the next challenge – cost and logistics.

Hot meals are then prepared and once it is ready and fully cooked, it has to go for a blast chilling process in a blast chiller (a humongous refrigerator). Blast chill is a method of cooling food quickly to a low temperature, from 65 degrees Celcius to below 18 degrees Celcius to avoid any development of bacteria. This is a very crucial process especially for quality assurance, that the meals provided are safe and edible for all passengers. (This blast chilling procedure also sets some limitations, like it is impossible for deep fried ingredients to stay crunchy ie. anchovies and peanut for that nasi lemak.)

Next, is sorting out the meals correctly according to the order sheet. The quantity of meals is according to the passengers loading chart, received from the food inspector. At this point, all meals are inspected - free from any foreign objects like hair, insects etc.

The right ratio to be loaded for each aircraft before loading those meals on their designated tray must also be diligently checked. For example, it would be close to never for a caterer to provide more than what is required on the loading chart. Again, this goes back to the important factor of cost.

After inspection, the caterer will also prepare the tray set up for the tray meals to be loaded to the correct locations, in the right carts, in the right trolleys and all meals are always kept in the right temperature – not exceeding 4 to 5 degree Celcius.

Only now that all meal carts including beverage carts are ready to be loaded on the aircraft. At this point another important factor must be responsibly considered – the time factor. The caterer must be on time for a team of drivers, with supervisors to go on board to check the quantity of the meals to make sure that the quality is at par, to be handed over and checked again by the cabin crew on board.

One might say, if an airline is absolutely dedicated to serving high quality meals, they could of course re-engineer the entire process or think of other alternatives that would work. But that is not going to pay for the airline. And the fact remains, passengers have spoken and the majority would demand for nothing but price over value over luxury.

Yes, preparing food for in-flight passengers is something really hard to do, though it is not impossible. And designing and engineering meals for dining in the sky considering the science and the cost behind it, is immensely hard. So, every time I open that pack of nasi lemak on board a Malaysian Airline aircraft, I always, always appreciate the countless hard work from each and every men and women who have prepared that meal. And as I eat that 'naked nasi lemak', I will always imagine the struggle the food engineer went through designing the meal before it is served to me.